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Category Archives: She and Them – Baby

The girls are growing up so fast! It’s so much fun seeing them turn into little mischievous girls and they are starting to really adore spending time together. They are both currently still sleeping in with Mum and Dad but it won’t be long now until they are in their own rooms! We are therefore both having a lot of fun collecting nursery bits and setting up spaces that they will love.

After sourcing furniture, curtains and all that sort of jazz, we were on the hunt for decorations! Never ones to shy away from novelty lighting, these colour changing unicorn fairy lights* from Festive Lights were perfect! The girls are fascinated by them as they slowly change colour to showcase a selection of baby friendly soft shades. Fairy lights are such a cheap and easy way to add a bit of character to a space and hopefully they will help make the transition into their own rooms that little bit nicer. Plus, unicorns are pretty great! Naturally, being babies, they wanted to eat the unicorns (!!!) so we had to come up with ways to keep them safely out the way. Thankfully they are battery operated so no nasty mains to worry about (phew) so Jo will be pinning hers to the top of her dollshouse-shaped bookcase and Victoria has a cunning plan to display hers in a clear vase that can be stored out of reach!

Don’t the girls look so cute in their matching Cath Kidston* pjs? We’ve been wondering how old they will be before they ask us to stop dressing them in matching outfits! If they are anything like us, they will both still be twinning in their thirties!

Big thanks to Festive Lights for our new lighting. With Christmas on the horizon we are sure to be spending a lot of time on your website!

J&Vx

This post is a collaboration and contains affiliate links, but the love of unicorns is all mum’s own.

Last week I (Victoria) had the pleasure of spending a few nights away at Nantwen, a beautiful holiday cottage in Pembrokeshire. It was a lovely present from Jo as part of our collaboration with notonthehighstreet.com. If you are ever looking for somewhere to stay in the area, I’d definitely recommend it. We had such a relaxing few days! Something that I didn’t find quite as relaxing was packing for the trip. I’ve always disliked packing but it has changed significantly since having a baby. Before, I would spend far too long making sure I had outfits for all occasions, with accessories to match. Now, I chuck whatever is clean into my suitcase and hope for the best. I then spend the rest of the time triple checking we have everything my little one needs. And she needs a lot. Babies do not travel light.

If you are a regular reader, you’ll know that we took the girls to Bluestone a few months ago (review here), who provide travel cots as standard, so I haven’t needed to think about Ada’s holiday sleeping arrangements before now. As Nantwen is more of a couples getaway, we had to take anything we needed to make sure Ada was as comfortable as we were, so my plan was to try and borrow a travel cot. As luck would have it, that very same week an email appeared in our inbox asking if we’d like to try out something from Cuggl. Not heard of them before? Don’t worry, neither had I! They are a new nursery brand who have just launched at Argos. Keep an eye out for them when you are flicking through the catalogue circling things for your Christmas list. That’s still a thing, right?

The Cuggl Grey Travelcot was the first to catch my eye because it’s in my favourite colour scheme (yellow and grey) and looks so light and manageable. However, I thought it would be more sensible to try out the Cuggl Deluxe Travelcot* and Changing Unit, because it comes with, you guessed it, a changing unit! The unit came in really handy, and it was nice not to have to balance a changing mat somewhere or change Ada on the floor. Girl’s got class y’know. Not only did the Travelcot provide somewhere for Ada to sleep and be changed, but it also creates a safe playpen. Bonus! It’s on lockable wheels, so it can be moved around easily and as you can see on the pictures below, I popped Ada in for a little play (with these two pots that she is obsessed with!) whilst I run a bath and her dad made us breakfast. She was as happy as Larry, especially as she could see me the whole time thanks to the mesh sides. I’ve already recommended the travelcot to a few other mums and they have all asked if Ada slept ok in it, and I can happily say that she did!

How do I get my baby to sleep? Surely one of the most Googled things by any new parent and something I (Jo) was guilty of researching many times at 1am, 3am and 4am back in those hazy newborn days. I think it’s fair to say that my baby, Poppy, was a pretty bad sleeper. She didn’t like sleeping anywhere other than on me and whenever I would put her down she would wake up instantly. I’m not going to lie, I found it incredibly hard. We’d decided against going down the co-sleeping route and had already invested in a Ewan, a Sleepyhead and a co-sleeper – apparently Poppy wasn’t impressed by our John Lewis haul. I spent hours reading other people’s posts about the 4th trimester, falling deeper and deeper down a forum black hole looking for ways which might help. After weeks of pretty much no sleep I was willing to try anything!

One of the things I had stumbled upon in my search for a sleep solution was the idea of the swaddle sleeping bag (swaddling being one of the many things I had tried unsuccessfully!). I’d seen a couple of people swear by them and I was pretty intrigued to see if they could make a difference to us! Very kindly, ergoPouch sent us an ergoCocoon* and I must admit it was a complete game changer. Sleeping bag swaddles are designed like a regular baby sleeping bag but thanks to some poppers in the armholes, you can securely keep the baby’s arms inside the suit. The result? Poppy was unable to startle herself awake with her arms! As well as this, thanks to being in a sleeping bag rather than having a blanket, she couldn’t kick her covers off either! We did laugh a lot at her the first time we put her in it – she looked like a hotdog! But the laughter soon turned into to a huge sigh of relief when the first time we put her down in her Sleepyhead SHE STAYED ASLEEP. I sat on the bed staring at her in complete disbelief.

Poppy is now 4 months old and (currently) sleeps like a dream. We honestly haven’t looked back. After our initial success, we spent weeks placing both of Poppy’s arms inside the ergoCocoon before slowly transitioning her by keeping one arm out at night for a couple more weeks and then, finally, both arms out. It was a fantastic process and now we have a very happy baby who has now moved on to sleeping in sleeping bags.

Have you found any genius ways to get your baby to sleep? And, yes, we do blow bubbles to try and get Poppy and Ada to look at the camera!

Jx

*The ergoCocoon was provided for the purposes of review but all thoughts and opinions are mummy’s own

Toot toot! A couple of weeks ago the Boden petal-powered bus rolled into Bristol as part of their Spring Blooms tour with Bloom & Wild. A prettier mode of transport you never did see! It certainty brightened up Broadmead and added a much needed splash of colour to an otherwise dull day. How could you not get on board with that? It therefore seemed appropriate that the four of us were all decked out in their wares for our visit. It’s no secret how much we love a bit of Boden so, naturally, we’ve been pining over their baby clothes for months! Thankfully, like mother like daughter, both girls are already big fans of their novelty prints!

This beautiful double decker green bus was not only gorgeous on the outside but jam-packed with the dreamiest Spring flowers and new season garms! Upon boarding the bus, we found the bottom deck was filled with happy Bristolians being given a Bloom & Wild masterclass on how to create special edition The Johnnie Bunch, which you can grab here. Although we are two wildflowers we had the babes with us, so we were in no position to get green fingered, but we can confirm it smelt amazing. Upstairs had been transformed into a beautiful showroom where we were treated to a glimpse of the new range of occasionwear. It was blooming marvelous!

We were definitely overshadowed by our gorgeous girlies who caused quite the commotion in their snazzy outfits, especially Ada’s rose gold bunny booties*. You can find the rest of their bits and bobs here. We tagged along to pay for their bus fare in equally fun attire! I (Victoria) spotted this fab stripey shirt* on Amy from Me, Myself and Ivy‘s Instagram – which you must pay a visit to if you love colourful clothes as much as we do. I teamed it with a rather sensible pair of blue chino’s* and comfy silver trainers*, perfect for running for the bus! Jo sported the world’s best statement skirt*, an embroidered masterpiece! She teamed it with a pink cropped jumper* which although lovely was a little see-through, so definitely one to pop a white top on underneath. Her green flats* were a big hit as they were not only comfortable but they coped admirably in the rain. Top stuff Boden!

Things were very rosey indeed as we caught up with Bristol’s very own Niki from Miss Magpie Fashion Spy and Jess from @PorthJess who were both working their magic for the Bristol leg of the tour and it was lovely to finally meet Xanthe and Lucy, after admiring their Instagram accoutnts for so long. What a bunch of talented ladies!

As we had such glorious weather in Bristol last weekend, I wanted to make the most of it, so my husband and I popped wee Ada into her new sling (more on that later!) and took a wander around one of our favourite neighbourhoods in Bristol, St Werburghs. Our first stop was the ever excellent St Werburghs City Farm, where Ada particularly liked the goats. As a new mum, I’m now always on the lookout to see if places are child friendly, and the farm definitely is. It has spacious baby changing facilities, a play park and many chances for little ones to help feed the animals. Thankfully, the farm is also very parent friendly and we were able to purchase some jam and chutney then grab a coffee in the farm cafe across the road. Who said having a newborn isn’t very rock and roll?

As we wanted to take a long walk around the local area after visiting the farm, we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to use a sling for the first time. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about putting Ada in a sling, as she’s still quite tiny for six weeks old, but my husband has really been looking forward to taking her out and about without the restraints of a heavy buggy. Turns out, I had nothing to worry about, as after we had worked out how to use it, Ada looked incredibly cozy, so much so that she had a lovely doze for most of the time we were out and about. If only we could have done the same! We’re all a bit sleep deprived here at She and Hem HQ.

The sling we used is the stylish red Soohu Sling* from We Made Me and I’m super impressed. The cradle carry is a winner, and I love the fact that it’s one size fits all, which means we can take her out in it until she’s 24 months old! If you are pregnant or have a newborn, I would definitely recommend looking into baby carrying if you like the idea of going hands and buggy free. We’ll definitely be using the sling loads, especially now spring is (just about) on the horizon!

After an excellent cup of coffee in the farm cafe, we had a wander around the local area and swooned over all of the awesome eco houses. I’ll take the yellow one please! A short walk from the farm is Boiling Wells, 2.5 acres of woodland which home sculptures, a fire circle and even a pizza oven! It’s such a fun space which often holds weddings and theatre events. I’m really looking forward to seeing a production in the summer, and I’m sure Ada is too!

Keep an eye on the blog over the next few months as the lovely ladies at Bump Pr were awfully kind and sent Jo and I a variety of We Made Me slings to try, so in addition to trying The Wuti Wrap*, when our little ones are a few months older we’ll be trying out The Pao Carrier* (4 – 36 months). I’m really keen to try this one out as it looks so sturdy and easy to use, which is ideal when you have a very active baby and all of their bits and pieces to cart around.

Remember when these JoJo Maman Bébé dresses were our favourite go-to maternity frocks (you can read our posts here and here)? Well now, thanks to their genius discreet feeding slits (oi oi), they are now our go-to for nursing! Goodness me, getting your baps out in public is much easier when you’ve got easy access. Hip hip hooray for breastfeeding friendly clothing.

Anyway, enough about our boobs (this isn’t page 3 – thank God), how adorable are these JoJo Maman Bébé sleepsuits? Very! Little Ada is sporting the Foxley Wood Baby Sleepsuit* and doesn’t she look foxley indeed! We love the all over woodland print and the fold over mitts mean no nasty scratches on that beautiful baby face. Poppy is just as quackers about her Duck Appliqué Baby Sleepsuit* and we think she looks perfectly ready for spring! We’ve both been so impressed with the quality of these sleepsuits and both have so far survived a number of bottom related explosions and have, thankfully, washed really well. We are having so much fun dressing our little ladies.

J&Vx

*JoJo Maman Bébé very kindly sent Poppy and Ada their sleepsuits but all opinions are Mummy’s own.

We are feeling pretty festive here at She and Hem, so in the spirit of the season, we thought it was time to hold a little competition for our lovely readers. Thanks to our friends at The Gro Company, it’s time for a Rafflecopter giveaway! Ho ho ho yeah! Like the certifiable Santas that we are (a little round, full of mince pies), we are giving you the chance to win a gorgeous Zig Zag Travel Grobag, as seen above. Designed for ages 0-6 months, the versatile 2.5 tog rating makes it suitable all year round. Simply enter below for the chance to win. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for you!

Keep your eyes peeled in 2017 for our little elves in their Grobags from the Orla Kiely range, which you can find on The Gro Company website right now. They are beautifully modeled by New Mum Online’s gorgeous little Lottie. Modelling for Orla Kiely at such a young age, we are very jealous Lottie!

Last weekend we gathered our nearest and dearest, popped on some pregnancy friendly party frocks and wandered (slowly) on down to our favourite tea room in Bristol, Cox and Baloney. Why? Why, only to celebrate the imminent arrival of our little bundle of joys at the She and Hem Baby Shower! Yippee! After shooting at Cox and Baloney several times over the last few years for the likes of Emily and Fin, Boden and Joy, we knew we’d love to hold some sort of event there one day, as it really is the perfect party venue. Luckily for us they had some availability, so we jumped at the chance to book all our chums in for a lovely afternoon of mocktails, sandwiches, scones and oh so much cake! Not to mention an endless supply of tea. Perfect!

We are pretty easy to please and decided we’d rather not have any baby shower games. We had invited more people than the venue usually holds (oops!), and we really wanted a chance to spend time and catch up with everyone who’d given up their day to spend it with us, without any forced fun. One thing we couldn’t resist though was a jazzy photo booth. Come on, we are bloggers after all. Jo fixed up some excellent props, and then we joined creative forces and spent the night before hanging lots of ribbon to our sparkly backdrop. At no point did either of us get frustrated with it not all holding together. Nope, not at all. Fortunately, it looked great on the day and everyone was super keen to get involved, even the grandmothers to be!

Alongside all of the incredible gifts we were both given by our very genourous friends and families (thanks guys!!), we were also sent this fun handmade nappy cake from The Bump Company and a wonderful personalised balloon from The Giant Balloon Company! Would you just look at those adorable little booties?! We really were so excited unboxing them both the day before the baby shower, and so touched that people are as excited as we are about our two tiny humans coming into the world. The cake and the balloon added an extra little something on the day, so thanks to both for sending them over to us. They were both big hits all round!

In true She and Hem matchy matchy style we wore dresses that complimented each other. Well, we like to think so! Jo’s beautiful Sequin Swing Dress is a maternity exclusive from ASOS and my Stardust Jewel Bodice Dress is by Rock-a-Bye Rosie from House of Fraser. I’d not heard of Rock-a-Bye Rosie before, but am now a big fan. I really love this dress. As it’s a maternity piece, I’m hoping to wear it to a Christmas party or two before I have to part with it! If not, I may just have to wear it around the house on maternity leave. Who doesn’t wear a party frock to watch This Morning?

Hopefully you all spotted Victoria’s excellent East Coast Challenge post this time last week and now it’s my turn! Hoorah. Just to refresh your memories, the lovely folk at East Coast Nursery invited us to take part in their Dresser Hack Challenge in which each we got to style one of their gorgeous Clara Dresser‘s* using a budget of £50.

After deciding on a bright orange changing mat, in the form of the Diamonds Changing Mat in Coral*, I decided to embrace a colourful theme and set about sourcing some practical bits and bobs to help me store everything I will need. But of course, who needs practical when you can buy bunting, eh? I will admit that this was my very first purchase and comes from patchworkpawprint on Etsy. I bought 3 meters which is more than enough to tie round the top of the dresser. I think it looks really effective and is such a simple way to make the dresser your own.

OK OK, now on to the practical. As a first time Mum-to-be, I’ll admit this involved quite a lot of heavy Googling as I got lost in other peoples lists and must haves. It can be quite overwhelming, cant it? Thankfully there were a few universal themes and I soon became really excited about furnishing my practical open shelves with baskets of goodies! I couldn’t resist the Set of 2 Knitted Storage Tubs from Next that look like little bears. They are really cute and I decided to use one to store spare baby clothes and the other for muslin squares. I think they look rather lovely on the top shelf next to some spare blankets.

For the bottom shelf, I really wanted a storage system that I could, in future, stop the little one from tipping onto the floor as nobody has time for that! I think I found the perfect solution in the form of Sass and Belle’s Set of 3 Moroccan Geometric Suitcases which I bought from Amazon. They perfectly compliment my bright mat and bunting and offer a really stylish solution to storing all those bits and bobs you need in easy reach. I’ve used one for nappies, one for all the lotions, wipes and creams and one for spare cotton wool balls. Perfect! I’ve got them open at the moment but when baby is crawling it will be super easy to close them up and keep everything safely stored inside.

Finally, a couple of extra touches. I bought some colourful Organiser Caddys, also from Amazon, which perfectly fit to the front of the dresser and create some very easily accessible extra storage. I’ve used one for cotton wool, one for nappy bags and, as I’ve got a lot of hair that I won’t want in the way when I’m trying to change a messy nappy (eugh, gross, poo hair etc), I’ve used one for hair bands. I then also added a couple of extra hooks to the side (the green monkeys which I’ve had for years). I’ve used one to hold a laundry bag (which was a Boden shoe protector bag in a former life) and the other I’ve left free. Perhaps I’ll discover a good use for it once baby comes along!

So, what do you think? I’m really pleased with how it’s turned out although I imagine this will be neatest it ever looks! It was also so nice to do this challenge and made me feel really prepared for the arrival of the little one in December! So thank you very much, East Coast Nursery.

If you are a regular She and Hem reader or follow us on social media, you probably know that both Jo and I (Victoria) are pregnant, and it’s blooming brilliant! Although a complete coincidence (we’re not that well organised!), it’s weirdly wonderful to be expecting your first child at the same time as your BFF. Especially when they’re a little way ahead of you, so you can pester them with questions like ‘Did you ever get weird pains here?’, ‘What’s the whopping cough jab like?’ and more importantly, ‘What on earth is going to happen to my belly button?!’.

Another thing we chat about pretty much constantly is baby equipment. Prams, cots and all of the things you’ve never needed to think about can become quite overwhelming, and cause your bank balance (and husband) to wince uncontrollably. With that in mind, when East Coast Nursery offered us both the chance to take part in a blogger challenge to style the Clara Dresser*, we jumped at the chance to tick an item off of our shopping list and really start preparing for our little arrivals! Some would say a dresser is not an essential item, but I was particularly keen to get one to act as an additional storage solution. As soon as I put it together I could tell it was going to be so much easier to store all of the baby changing accessories in one organised place, and hopefully quicker to change the little rascal too! Styling the dresser was lots of fun, and I’m dead chuffed with the end result. It feels pretty lovely to have something ready for the baby.

I themed the styling around the Chevron Changing Mat* from East Coast, as I just really love a chevron. I decided to buy grey chevron storage to hold the essentials, some blankets for post-change swaddling, and a few yellow chevron sheets, just because. I also popped a couple of outfits in a gorgeous wooden basket for any emergency clothing changes! But, where will you put the dirty clothes, I hear you ask. After pondering this very question, I came up with the following tip top blogger hack! As the shelves are a bit small for laundry storage, I decided to create my own by attaching a removable suction hook from Ikea (seen below), to which I hung a light laundry bag. Pretty and practical? Yes indeed. No baby brain around here!